


For the Team

by stephanericher



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-28 05:30:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19387477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephanericher/pseuds/stephanericher
Summary: She will guide her team and put them in the best position she can, no matter what.





	For the Team

**Author's Note:**

> title is the prompt, for dw user hibari1_chan
> 
> takes place after last game

Murasakibara’s wrist is fine. Fine, meaning the cast is off, meaning he’s been medically cleared by a doctor, meaning there is no one in between him and Masako’s decision to let him play or not. She has to make the decision, and she’s more comfortable making it herself than letting anyone else make it, but--this is why she generally doesn’t let her players participate in matches outside of the ones tied to this team. This is the injury that had made her angrier than she’s been in years, angrier than she’s ever been about her high-schoolers. She’s coached kids who did stupid shit before; she does now. But for this one exhibition game against a bunch of overconfident bigots to have hurt Murasakabara like that--when they could have won without him, when people like that were not worth their time in the first place. 

Honor, revenge, saving face--those are things Masako has not had to think about in this context since her gang days, and she hasn’t had the urge, deep down inside of her, to smash a pipe against the nearest wall and bend it until she can’t use it as a weapon, as much as she does thinking about that, since those days. Murasakibara's precious development time has been shortened, all for that win. And, yes, it's made getting to the Winter Cup that much more difficult, and once they get there and Murasakibara is truly ready to play, reintegrating him into the lineup will be delicate. Masako can handle a challenge, and she can handle a sudden swerve at top speed. She will guide her team and put them in the best position she can, no matter what. But this lowers their ceiling, their margin, and pressures the backs of all the other players, a shield whose weight now falls in a more uneven pattern.

It's annoying, and unfair, and it's hurt Murasakibara's development path, and Kagetora has not heard the last of it from Masako.

All that aside, though, Murasakibara isn't ready for more than off-court exercise. He's not stupid, but he'll go for too much too soon and risk reinjury, and if minimizing that risk means lowering the team's chances of success for this particular tournament, so be it. That all seems unfair to Himuro and Liu and the rest, but sometimes there are no fair choices, and if they lose out because they're stuck blaming last year's version of themselves instead of doing all they can for now, they don't deserve it.

But they won't. Masako's made damn sure they don't play like that, if nothing else.

She calls Himuro and Liu into her office the day after Murasakibara is cleared. They are, after all, her captain and vice captain, and even if she disagrees she needs to hear what they have to say.

"Do you think Murasakibara is ready?"

Liu shoves his hands deep into his pockets, as if gripping the fabric will give him the correct answer. Himuro looks placid, as always, staring past Masako at the office wall.

"No," he says, finally.

Liu looks at him, not exactly in surprise or disagreement, but in relief that Himuro had said it before he'd had to.

"He needs time and conditioning. He won't like it, and I want him back. And we can't stop him from acting recklessly forever, but he's definitely not ready now."

"Well said," says Masako. "Can you tell him that to his face?"

"Yes," Liu and Himuro both say in unison.

Masako cracks a tiny smile. "I'll take care of it. Thank you for your input."

Masako had been prepared to reason, disagree, and ultimately veto them, but these kids are more mature than she gives them credit for sometimes. 

*

Sometimes, though, they’re exactly as mature as Masako pins them down to be. It’s perfectly fair to Murasakibara to expect him to accept his situation with a little more grace, though when he complains the whole way through his rehabbing and practicing, Masako is not at all surprised. (And, in her opinion, Himuro is wasting too much energy attempting to placate Murasakibara, though he seems to have taken it on as a personal challenge and, well, it sort of works sometimes.)

Yosen dispatches Senshinkan without him in the first round of the Winter Cup, king or not. The matchup is favorable to Yosen purely based on size and skill, a lucky pick when they need to rest their best player still. The next round, against Seirin, is a different story on all sides. It’s a rematch from last year, wounds that still smart against a slightly different squad, one absolutely absent its best two players (and the two most capable of stopping Murasakibara, incidentally). Murasakibara’s real grudge, though, is against Kuroko, unflappable in the face of Murasakibara’s rages and tempestuousness. If Masako really wanted to let him sit, it would be more of a hassle than usual, but Murasakibara’s motivated and Seirin isn’t a physically difficult team to play against. They’re very small and very offense-focused; they’ll challenge Murasakibara’s defensive skills (though the rest of the team is good enough to cover for him) but give him room to be sloppy or slow on the other end.

That’s the plan, anyway, half the first quarter and maybe a little more. 

Murasakibara wins the tipoff, and Seirin’s center isn’t even close. He doesn’t bother trying to pass it, barrelling through their defense like he wants an offensive foul, only they’re all too scared of him to not back away. His path to the net is clear; he tips the ball in easily, and he already looks bored.

Yosen builds up enough of a lead that Masako yanks him early, to no complaints, and Murasakibara yawns as he sits on the bench. So much for complaining about not getting to play.

Seirin substitutes in Kuroko for Koganei early in the second, and Murasakibara stands up from the bench.

“I’m going back in.”

“No, you’re not,” says Masako.

“But Masako-chin…”

“What happened to yawning on the bench?”

“Sitting there is boring.”

Masako ignores him. He hasn’t been overexerting his wrist, but she’s not going to risk it yet. He can settle his personal grudges elsewhere.

“Let him back in,” Himuro says, when Masako calls a time out.

It’s a request he wants heard, though he expects it to have no effect--and, well. 

“Maybe at the end of the quarter.” 


End file.
